For War Victims, GW Alumnus Finds Missing Pieces of the Puzzle

Genetics Expert Sets Up DNA Labs in Foreign Lands

John Crews’ education at Columbian College is helping to provide closure to grieving families on a global scale. As a forensic geneticist, he brings modern science and a tireless commitment to war-ravaged countries through on-site DNA analysis and identification of slain loved ones.

Crews, who graduated with a master of science degree in genetics in 2000, is chief of forensic genetics and laboratory director for the non-profit Forensic Anthropology Foundation of Guatemala. More than 200,000 people were killed in Guatemala during a civil conflict between 1960 and 1996, leaving entire villages destroyed. Years later, many people are still unaccounted for, which is where Crews steps in—setting up laboratories to identify victims from mass graves and burial sites. Crews did similar work in Bosnia, establishing a DNA program in the Balkans.

“The circumstances surrounding the work can be heartbreaking, but there’s a huge reward when you can find someone’s brother, sister, father or mother,” said Crews, 39, during a recent summer visit to Washington, D.C., before returning to Guatemala.

Members of the Forensic Anthropology Foundation are not always welcomed by local governments or by those residents suspected of having taken part in the killings. Recently, Guatemalan villagers attacked the foundation’s anthropology team, professionals who interview family members and villagers to locate and exhume bodies.

“There were threats against families who said they would work with us,” explained Crews. But, he added, those incidents are rare, and over time, the presence of the workers is usually accepted by the residents and the governments.

Establishing a DNA Identification Program

Crews’ work underscores an international movement to help surviving war victims. As part of an initiative by the International Commission on Missing Persons (ICMP), Crews traveled to Bosnia in 2001 to help create a DNA identification program. ICMP was funded by the U.S. government and backed by nations concerned about the genocide during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Of the estimated 200,000 reported dead in those conflicts, between 20,000 and 30,000 were listed as missing.

Ed Huffine, the director of the ICMP forensics program, said the Balkan region had almost no DNA capability, and Crews’ efforts helped push the victim identification rate to 80 percent, which he called “unprecedented.”

Huffine, who now works for Bode Technology in Lorton, Va., remembered Crews working long hours at the Bosnia lab, even spending the night on the benches. “His energy and determination was critical in making the initiative successful,” he said.

A Persistent and Empathetic Temperament

Crews’ interest in forensics grew after a hospital internship. At Columbian College, he worked in the genetics office and helped build the department’s Web site. Associate Professor of Biological Sciences Diana Johnson noted that Crews had the temperament for detailed work. “One of things you need in research is persistence,” she said. “It’s, ‘OK, I’m gonna fix this.’ That personality is really crucial.”

Crews chose GW’s Columbian College for his graduate studies because the program enabled him to do thesis research in a lab of his choice. “It was really the flexibility of GW that allowed me to do what I wanted as long as I met the degree requirements,” he said. Crews prepared DNA information for a database used by the FBI and the U.S. armed forces as part of his thesis work with Marc Allard, a former Ronald B. Weintraub professor in biological sciences.

Because of his graduate work, Crews made connections that eventually led to the opportunity in Bosnia. He found the work exciting but the killings hard to fathom.

“The greatest shock was the senselessness of the war and the crimes that had occurred,” Crews said. “I didn’t see how anybody got anything out of thisthe manipulation which the politicians had used to instill fear into the population, how people just turned on their neighbors.”

And the victims made the biggest impression.

“A large part of me gets very upset about injustice,” he said.

That’s what drives Crews, according to Huffine. “John is very empathetic. To some degree, you feel the suffering they’ve had. You want to make things better … you’re touched by the pain, the suffering that you see. I don’t know how you can do this job effectively and not be touched.”

“He wants to see social justice done,” added Allard, who now works for the Food and Drug Administration and is an advisor for the Guatemala foundation.

Crews is looking forward to the upcoming months in Guatemala, noting that his career has been satisfying because DNA work helps convict the guilty as well as exonerate the innocent. “The part I like the most is when you get a sample to work properly, especially the very difficult ones with skeletal remains.”

It takes time and money to develop a DNA lab, and costs range up to about $1.5 million. Workers must be trained and develop expertise to conduct tests and properly handle data. Eventually, local scientists take over the operations.

“You have to build a system. That requires a unique set of skills, talent and personality,” said Huffine, who said few Americans travel overseas for such work. “John is stubborn, and I mean stubborn in a good way. If you have a vision and believe in that vision, you can endure the obstacles and setbacks.”